Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
It was known within the executive circles that Delta's cost structure was going to result in bankruptcy probably as far back as the year 2001.
Complete BS. I spoke to our CEO on my jet right before 9-11. Our contract was amendable the following year. I told him that I hope he enjoys the competitive advantage he's got while it lasts because come next year, you're going to have to open that checkbook to make us Delta plus. He said: "We know...but we'll enjoy it while it lasts."
Little did ANY of us know that 9-11 was just a few months away. Had 9-11 not happened, NWA would have matched or exceeded Delta pilots and everyone else would have patterned up. To recapture their previous profit margins, management would simply have had to raise the ticket prices the extra 7 or 8 dollars to cover the increased cost to the industry of pilot pay. Oh I forgot, an extra 7 or 8 dollars would make people stop flying...as the new baggage fees clearly prove.
Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
ALPA did not know, went through a period of denial, then made the best of it.
ALPA didn't know, and nobody else knew either. Except Bin Laden and his immediate crew.
Carl